


In The Woods Somewhere

by DaisyDewDr0p



Series: Geraskier Week 2020 [2]
Category: The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Geraskier Week 2020, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:15:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22797667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaisyDewDr0p/pseuds/DaisyDewDr0p
Summary: Hunting monsters wasn’t traditionally something that Geralt and Jaskier did together.
Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion
Series: Geraskier Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1634461
Comments: 3
Kudos: 93





	In The Woods Somewhere

**Author's Note:**

> If everyone is OOC I apologise  
> Still no beta lmao

Hunting monsters wasn’t traditionally something that Geralt and Jaskier did together. For starters, Jaskier had little interest in dirtying himself traipsing through some forest or swamp to get to the creature detailed in the contract Geralt had received. He would whine and moan the whole time about how “the mud has soaked through my trousers, Geralt!” or “I’ve torn my new doublet on a branch!” Inevitably his loud complaining would alert the attention of the monster they were stalking, and Geralt would lose the element of surprise. This made the ensuing fight last longer and carry more risk of injury for the two of them.

Secondly, Jaskier never had been the best of fighters. He was competent enough in hand to hand combat, years of drunken bar fights had seen to that aspect of his combat education. He was even convinced that, if given a sword properly weighted for him instead of one of Geralt’s heavy swords, he could be a competent sword fighter too. However, once he was face to face with a real-life monster, it was as though everything Geralt had ever taught him would flee from his head entirely. Ultimately this ended with Geralt having to swoop in and save him from certain death.

The combination of these factors had, in turn, lead to an agreement between the pair. While Geralt was out on a hunt Jaskier would remain in the warmth and comfort of a nearby tavern, entertaining the locals with his singing to bring in some extra coin. On occasion, though, he would insist that he be allowed to join Geralt on a hunt so that he could gain some inspiration or insight for his latest ballad.

This was one such occasion. The contract Geralt had been given by the local alderman was to clear out a drowner nest from a nearby lake. It was a simple enough job that shouldn’t take more than a few hours to complete. Still, even so, Geralt didn’t feel entirely comfortable letting Jaskier tag along.

“It’s too dangerous, Jas.” 

“Piss on that! It’s just a nest of drowners! You could take them in your sleep!” Jaskier gave him a pleading look. “Please Geralt, I need new material, and no offence but your retellings are truly dire” Geralt levelled him with an unimpressed glare. “What! They are! You’re far too stingy with the details that you provide, which makes turning them into a song nigh impossible without overly embellishing said details. Which then puts you in an ever sourer mood than usual!”

Geralt has to admit that he had a point. He had never been a man of many words, so describing the creatures and how they fought wasn’t easy for him. But it also made him feel uncomfortable when Jaskier stretched the truth of their exploits.

“Fine, you may come with me,” he conceded, watching as Jaskiers face spilt into a wide grin, “but on two conditions.” The smile slipped a little from Jaskiers face, but he nodded all the same.

“Yep, ok, fine, what are they?”

“Firstly, you have to promise to be silent.” Geralt doubted that Jaskier actually could be quiet in any way what so ever. It seemed to go entirely against his nature, but it was worth a shot. “Which means that it would be best if you left your lute here.” Jaskier looks mutinous for a moment, but Geralt presses on before he can argue. “Secondly, you have to do everything I say, without question. If I tell you to run you run, no argument.”

“Fine, fine, I accept your conditions” he sighed, turning to place his lute back into his case. He then reached into his pack and produced a notebook and pencil. “Let’s get going before we lose too much light. I know you can see in the dark with your witchery eyes, but some of us, unfortunately, have only human eyes.”

The location of the lake they were headed for was just outside town in the middle of a small forest. It didn’t take long for the pair to walk there, and when they reached the edge of the forest, Geralt stopped unsheathing his sword. It’s not strictly necessary for him to have his sword in his hand, but it is reassuring. Regardless of them still being quite a ways from the lake, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

“Stay behind me and keep quiet.” Jaskier gives him a mock salute, mimes locking his mouth like a chest, and draws a dagger that Geralt didn’t even realise he owned.

Together they begin walking through the forest, and Geralt can tell that Jaskier is trying his damnedest to walk silently. However, somehow he still manages to step on every single twig in his path. Then he starts humming. Geralt stops in his tracks and turns to him.

“What happened to you staying silent?”

“I’m trying my best!”

“Jaskier you’re humming.” Jaskier at least had the good sense to look sheepish then.

“Sorry, sorry, I’m just a little nervous, alright?” He brings a hand up to rub at the back of his neck. “I’m not the biggest fan of forests at night” Geralt sighs closing his eyes.

“Then why didn’t you just stay at the inn?”

“How am I meant to get a first-hand account of your fight with the drowners from the inn hmm? Come on Geralt we went over this before we left!” So they had. Geralt grunted and turned back to continue their slow walk through the forest. The further into the trees they went, the darker it became, and soon the sun had set entirely. If it weren’t for the enhancements to his eyes, Geralt would barely have been able to see at all, which meant that Jaskier would be practically blind right now. Which also meant that his nervous tick of incessant chatter had started up again.

“Are we nearly at the lake do you reckon? We must be, right? Because the alderman said that it wasn’t too deep into the forest and I’m sure that we’ve been walking for hours, so we have to be close by now? Don’t we?” Geralt closed his eyes and imagined throttling Jaskier. As tempting as the thought was, he knew that the fight Jaskier would put up would alert every creature within a ten-mile radius, which wasn’t ideal. It was while his eyes were closed that the smell came to him. Mingled amongst the general woodsy aroma was the acrid rot stench of drowners. He opened his eyes, and just ahead of them, he could see the telltale glint of moonlight on water.

Geralt crouched, signalling for Jaskier to do the same, before slowly inching towards the treeline. Just before they break through the trees, Geralt puts a hand out to stop Jaskier.

“Wait here, keep quiet and try not to be seen. If it looks like things have taken a turn for the worst, I want you to run as fast as you can away from here.”

“But-”

“No buts Jaskier, you promised, no arguing back.” He wraps his hand around Jaskiers where he holds his dagger. “And no grand acts of heroism either no matter how entertaining the songs you could write about it would be. You won’t be able to sing them if you’re dead” Jaskier huffs out a laugh at this.

“Alright, alright I’ll wait here, go do your witchering or whatever.” Geralt could hear Jaskiers smile more than he could see it. He also hears rustling and looks down to see that the dagger has been replaced with the notebook and pencil. “Go on Geralt, I’ll be fine here taking notes.”

Geralt rolled his eyes as he stood and walked slowly out of the trees towards the lake. There was no sign of the drowners yet, but he knew that the closer to the water he got, the more likely they were to appear. He continued edging closer and closer to the water, sword in hand, looking for unusual ripples in the surface of the lake.

Suddenly the calm water exploded, and three drowners leapt at him, slashing wildly with their claws. He managed to bring his sword up in time to slice through the first drowner but doing so allowed the second to rake its claws down his left arm. Geralt swung his sword around just barely missing the drowner as it burrowed underground. The third drowner screeched at the loss of its brethren and launched itself at Geralt’s back, wrapping its arms around his neck and trying to drag him to the water. He grapples with it momentarily before flipping it over his head, slamming it on to the ground and stabbing it in the chest.

For a moment, all is calm. Then the ground under Geralt’s feet begins to rumble. The second drowner bursts out of the forest floor and throws itself at him, knocking him sideways away from his sword. The drowner looms over him, screeching in his face, ready to rip his throat out.

Then suddenly there’s a blur of pale blue to his left. He hears a soft “oof”, and suddenly the drowner is no longer on top of him. He sits up and looks around wildly until he spots Jaskier a few feet away, straddling the drowner, stabbing it repeatedly with his dagger. He watches as Jaskier stabs and stabs until the drowner falls still. Then Jaskier tilts sideways and rolls off the drowner to lay on his back beside its corpse, breathing heavily.

They stay like this for a while, until Jaskier’s breathing has evened out, and his heart rate has nearly returned to normal. Then Geralt stands and retrieves his sword from the body of the third drowner. He wipes it clean on a nearby patch of grass before resheathing it and making his way over to where Jaskier is still on his back, staring up at the sky.

“One of these days,” Geralt said, leaning down and offering Jaskier his hand to help him stand, “you’ll actually listen when I tell you to run away.”

“That’s a funny way of saying thank you.”

“I mean it Jas, what you did was really stupid. What if it had gone wrong? What if you had gotten hurt? Or killed even? What then?” Jaskier, now standing, pulls his hand out of Geralt’s grasp.

“What else was I to do Geralt? Just sit by and watch as you get ripped to pieces by drowners? I don’t think so somehow.” He gestures wildly as he talks, pointing from Geralt to the treeline and back again.

“You’re not supposed to sit and watch you’re supposed to get as far away as you fucking can! Why must you insist on arguing about this all the time!”

“Because if I had a chance to save you and didn’t, I’d go out of my mind!” There are tears gathered in the corners of Jaskiers eyes now. Geralt brings a hand up to brush them away before resting his palm on his cheek. “I couldn’t bear it if you died Geralt.”

At that moment, he’s overwhelmed by the rush of emotion he feels. No one has ever cared if he lived or died. He knows he should respond. Tell Jaskier about the overwhelming feelings crashing over his mind. But he’s never been the most articulate person. He’s always been more into actions than words. So instead of speaking, he leans down and kisses Jaskier, hoping that it adequately conveys everything he feels. Jaskier freezes up for just a second before he’s surging forward, kissing Geralt back with such an intense fervour it nearly knocks them both backwards.

When they finally break apart an eternity later, his hands no longer on Jaskiers cheeks but tangled in his hair. Jaskiers hands are gripping at his armour, and they’re both breathing heavily. Another eternity passes as they stare into each other’s eyes. Jaskier, predictably, speaks first.

“Is that going to happen every time I save your life? Because if so I must make a note to do it more often.” Geralt huffs a laugh through his nose and playfully pushes Jaskier away. Jaskier laughs too. “I’m serious! If I’d have known that all I had to do to make you kiss me was save your life, I would have done it years ago.” Geralt rolls his eyes unable to keep the soft smile from forming on his face.

Hunting monsters wasn’t traditionally something that Geralt and Jaskier did together. But sometimes, on rare occasions, it did have its perks.

**Author's Note:**

> This took far longer than it should have done OTL  
> Truthfully I had something entirely different written for this prompt to start with but it just really wasn't going anywhere so I scrapped it and started over lmao  
> Hopefully the rest of the days won't take so long but ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


End file.
